Windows XP Security Center

I'm trying to replace my current firewall with the Windows Firewall built
into XP SP2, but on the Security Center screen I am advised under the
Security Essentials heading that "The Security Center is currently
unavailable because the Security Center service has not started or was
stopped." Following the instructions to close and restart doesn't resolve
the problem.

How can I make the Security Center service available? Suggestions warmly
appreciated.

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Go to Start / Run / and type 'services.msc' without the quotes and hit
enter. Scroll down right side until you find Security Center. Right
click on that and choose Properties. Change 'Startup Type' to
Automatic, and then click the Start button below.

Sure the fast way, but it sounds like guru magic (where the hell should a
user know about "services.msc" from?). The official way is Start, Settings,
Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services (or Computer Configuration ->
Services)
> Scroll down right side until you find Security Center. Right
> click on that and choose Properties. Change 'Startup Type' to
> Automatic, and then click the Start button below.

But without the "OK" or "Apply" button, after the next reboot it will still
be disabled.

Anyway, what the #!&% is the Security Center good for anyway? It just
introduces unnecessary complexity to the system, which is quite the contrary
of security - thus one should rather disable it.

And since it normally runs by default but he found it disabled, one should
take investigation on who disabled it. Such things don't happen magically
over night, and non-admin users don't have the requires rights to change
this configuration.

On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:20:50 +0200, Sebastian G <>
wrote:
>Zilbandy wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 09:41:34 GMT, "bagwash" <>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> How can I make the Security Center service available? Suggestions warmly
>>> appreciated.
>>
>> Go to Start / Run / and type 'services.msc' without the quotes and hit
>> enter.
>
>
>Sure the fast way, but it sounds like guru magic (where the hell should a
>user know about "services.msc" from?). The official way is Start, Settings,
>Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services (or Computer Configuration ->
>Services)
>
> > Scroll down right side until you find Security Center. Right
>
>> click on that and choose Properties. Change 'Startup Type' to
>> Automatic, and then click the Start button below.
>
>But without the "OK" or "Apply" button, after the next reboot it will still
>be disabled.
>
>
>Anyway, what the #!&% is the Security Center good for anyway? It just
>introduces unnecessary complexity to the system, which is quite the contrary
>of security - thus one should rather disable it.
>
>And since it normally runs by default but he found it disabled, one should
>take investigation on who disabled it. Such things don't happen magically
>over night, and non-admin users don't have the requires rights to change
>this configuration.

There's usually more than one way to do things in Windows. I gave one,
you gave another. What's your point?
>But without the "OK" or "Apply" button, after the next reboot it will still
>be disabled.

Ok, I wasn't totally complete in my reply, but isn't your commenting
on that issue like the pot calling the kettle black?
>Anyway, what the #!&% is the Security Center good for anyway? It just
>introduces unnecessary complexity to the system, which is quite the contrary
>of security - thus one should rather disable it.

I have mine disabled, so on this part, I agree with you. But, that
wasn't the original posters question, was it?

Zilbandy wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:20:50 +0200, Sebastian G <>
> wrote:
>
>>> Go to Start / Run / and type 'services.msc' without the quotes and hit
>>> enter.
>>
>> Sure the fast way, but it sounds like guru magic (where the hell should a
>> user know about "services.msc" from?). The official way is Start, Settings,
>> Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services (or Computer Configuration ->
>> Services)
>
> There's usually more than one way to do things in Windows. I gave one,
> you gave another. What's your point?

That "services.msc" is non-obvious for the users and sounds like you'd have
some secret knowledge that is hard to obtain. Indeed the official online
help won't tell such a thing to you either.

Most users fear such circumstances.

Thus, it's good behaviour to first name the official way (following the
intended GUI elements) and then provide a shortcut (to tell that these GUI
elements don't do anything else than launching "services.msc" from the
default path).

Thanks for these suggestions, but I'm afraid they haven't resolved the
problem.
In the "Security Center Properties (Local computer)" window the setting
already shows as "Automatic", though immediately below that it says "Service
status: Stopped".
So I click on the Start button, but that produces "Could not start the
Security Center service on Local Computer. Error 1068: The dependency
service or group failed to start".
Mention of dependency service prompts me to clock on the Dependencies tab,
which produces the Internal Error message "WBEM error features not
available. Upgrade WMI to a new build".
If I was feeling a bit lost before, I'm now seriously adrift! Any further
ideas please?

> Mention of dependency service prompts me to clock on the Dependencies tab,
> which produces the Internal Error message "WBEM error features not
> available. Upgrade WMI to a new build".
> If I was feeling a bit lost before, I'm now seriously adrift! Any further
> ideas please?

Seems like you managed to **** up your WMI database.

I don't remember which Microsoft Knowledge Base article it was, but the
recommended actions can be summarized in the following batch script:

Go to Start / Run / and type 'services.msc' without the quotes and hit
enter. Scroll down right side until you find Security Center. Right
click on that and choose Properties. Change 'Startup Type' to
Automatic, and then click the Start button below.

--
Zilbandy

Click to expand...

Thanks. i could not find such help from Microsoft after over an hour of searching there.

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